May 10, 2006—Imagine a roomful of entrepreneurs more intent on saving the world than making money.
That describes the crowd at the Global Development Marketplace May 8 and 9—an annual competition in search of the best low-cost innovations in global development.
Some 118 groups from 55 countries—a few in native dress—excitedly showcased their projects in the World Bank headquarters' sun-filled atrium.
Most came to Washington, DC, hoping to win up to US$200,000 in prize money to pay for projects designed to bring the most basic services to people who lack them, such as safe drinking water, sanitary waste disposal, and non-polluting sources of light.
The 118 finalists represented just 5 percent of 2,500 applicants for $5 million in Development Marketplace funds from the World Bank, the Global Development Facility, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Finance Corporation, and the Global Village Energy Project.
Domestic Roofwater Harvesting in HIV/TB Households For just under $200,000 the Uganda Rainwater Association plans to provide 1,200 clean water systems to families living with HIV/AIDS, as well as training and a means of income for 120 orphaned youth.
From Harmful Aquatic Plants to New Cooking Fuel Some 600,000 people living in the low valley of the Senegal River are set to benefit from a plan to turn harmful aquatic plants into new cooking fuel. The waters of the Senegal River region are being invaded by these plants, which is causing an increase in waterborne diseases. Under the project, the plants will be harvested and turned into fuel pellets for cooking.
Water for Peace: Watershed Rehabilitation Daryoosh from Catholic Relief Catholic Relief Services in Afghanistan outlines the plan to rebuild water supplies in the reconstruction of Afghanistan - a country where droughts are commonplace and water is scarce.
Pebble Matrix Filtration About 20,000 people in Sri Lanka are expected to get safe drinking water courtesy of a winning project plan to improve the water pre-filtration system at a water treatment plant in the Kataragama area. Listen to Dr. Jayasiri Rajapakse of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology describe how the Pebble Matrix Filtration project will work.
PedalPower 70 With an upfront investment of only $10 each, some 10,000 people living in 200 homes in Nepal are set to gain power for the first time. But there's a catch - under a project awarded a Development Marketplace grant the people will have to pedal for power, as David Owen Sowerwine explains.
Self-Sustainable Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting In a country where it only rains for 40 days a year, a project to harvest rainwater from the roofs of people's houses is set to benefit some 5,000 people in one village in the drought prone state of Rajasthan, India. And as BP Agrawal explains, the project will especially benefit women, who now have to walk three to four miles every day to fetch much needed water.
Pro-Poor Sanitation Demand Creation Listen to Enrique Paz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention talk about this project to improve sanitation in Bolivia by providing the poor with access to effective and affordable latrines.
UV Buckets to Disinfect Water in Rural Mexico About 40,000 people are expected to have access to clean disinfected water through a project to supply families with low cost UV buckets. As Florence Cassassuce explains, the UV buckets are a simple effective way to improve the water quality from wells - as at present about half of the wells have fecal contamination during the dry season and all are polluted during the rainy season.
Franchising Concept for Water and Sanitation Hear Karl-Ulrich Rudolph of Witten University in Germany outline plans to improve water service quality in South Africa by setting up franchises where local service providers solve the problems plaguing many developing countries---such as leaking pipes and malfunctioning water plants.
Though only 30 walked away with money, all were winners, observed Kathy Sierra, the Bank's Vice President for Infrastructure.
“If you didn't get the money here, you're going to get it someplace else,” Sierra told the crowd before winners were announced.
Each project offered a low-cost solution to a serious problem. And some of the winners sought to solve more than one problem.
Pump Aid will put its $120,000 in winnings toward a plan to install “elephant pumps” that are 10 times cheaper than standard hand pumps in Zimbabwe villages and schools, according to Director Ian Thorpe.
At schools, children pump the water through a “bicycle system.”
“It’s really exciting to see, because they’re actually having fun. They’re pumping water by riding on a bicycle. That compares to what they used to do, which was walking five miles with a bucket on their head, so there’s no comparison,” said Thorpe.
In villages, the pumps will be located in areas where children orphaned by AIDS can be “gatekeepers,” thereby elevating their status in a country where losing a parent through AIDS still carries a lot of stigma, he said.
“You think of water as quite a basic thing, but that fundamental root cause of poverty can impact on so many different areas.”
Several Development Marketplace entrepreneurs said they welcomed the chance to see what is considered cutting edge in development.
“I've been very amazed,” said Gulbakhar Izentaeva of Uzbekistan. “There are so many interesting and very good project proposals to help improve the life of people around the world.”
Izentaeva’s own project did not win, but illustrated the kinds of problems Development Marketplace projects were trying to address.
Her project’s goal was to provide solar desalination stills in 120 homes to improve the quality of drinking water in her home country. Salty drinking water is causing major health problems in Uzbekistan, she said.
“It’s a very very big problem,” she said. “I’m sorry that not a lot of people know about the region and know about the environmental disaster.”
Robin Black, the construction manager for Habitat for Humanity in Europe and Central Asia, highlighted the plight of Armenians still living in metal containers brought in after an earthquake struck the region in 1988 and destroyed many homes.
The containers are “unbearably hot in the summertime when it reaches 40 degrees (Celsius) and unbearably cold in the wintertime when it reaches minus 25,” Black says.
His project, which did not win at Development Marketplace, seeks to build low-cost houses with solar panels for hot water heating. His group also plans to renovate unfinished buildings in the economically depressed region and turn them into homes.
Lakshmi Koneru’s project to set up self-supporting water service in rural Madhya Pradesh in central India would encourage women to manage the village water rather than carry it. Koneru traveled 26 hours from New Delhi to attend the Development Marketplace event.
“I think it is a very good idea, whoever has started this,” she said. “It is bringing in the spirit for innovation. You get to know different ways of thinking, how people are implementing their projects. It’s bringing out a lot of inner abilities of people as well as exchanging a lot of networking.”
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